Henchman
by Cools-The-Calm
Summary: Cover Art by ReiShiba on Deviantart. 'Demon Swordsman' Crona wakes up in the plains of Ooo with little memories of his past life. After a run-in with Marceline, the Vampire Queen. Crona is forced to become her henchman for the rest of his life. Two lonely, (yet completely opposite) people in a land of adventure and whimsy. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Crona's eyes blinked open, he was looking at what looked like endless grey. He could recall nothing of his past, only bits and details. Hesitantly, he pushed himself up off the ground. Now he had a better feel for his surroundings, he was in an open field, the sky was obstructed by grey, ominous clouds.

"I'm not sure if I can deal with this…" He said, somewhat nervously. There were no familiar faces, not that he could remember any in the first place. All he knew was that he was "The Demon Swordsman Crona", he had black blood, and he had his "brother", Ragnarok, stuck inside of him. He aimlessly wandered around, too nervous to call for help.

"_**Crash!" **_An ear-piercing thunderclap echoed through the plains. Crona jolted back out of surprise. Sweat was beginning to form on his forehead. What should he do? What _could _he do? Just then, he felt a bit of liquid drop onto his robe. Then another. For a second he identified them as tears, but that wasn't it either. It took him a few moments to process it was rain falling from the clouds. Drops and drops fell from the sky, growing more plentiful with each growing second, much to Crona's displeasure.

Crona's worry slowly began to overtake him as the nature around him grew harsher. Just for a moment, he summoned his rational mind, and redirected his thoughts. _"Find Shelter" _He thought to himself. He observed his surroundings and looked desperately for something to hide under, just for a little while. His eyes shifted from one location to another, until he could faintly make out a mountainous region in the distance. Purely driven by instinct, he forced his thin legs to sprint.

As he made his way towards the shelter, he could more clearly identify the overall look of the mountain. From the foggy distance, it did look rather tall, but as Crona's vision began to collect itself, it appeared to be what looked like a cave. The outside of the cave was very shady looking, sharp stalagmites sticking out like thorns to a rose, and scattered junk everywhere. Crona began to turn around, pondering whether to brave the fierce storm or venture into this suspicious cave. Just as he was about to go back into the downpour, a flash of lightning caught Crona off guard, and quickly made up his mind. He was going into the cave.

"_Hey, Lord-of-Evil speaking, I'm too busy with evildoing get to the phone right now, if you got a soul or two to spare, let me know after the-" __**Beep. **_Marceline hung up the phone in anger, and stormed off to her room in a sulk. For nearly a month this cycle had gone on, from the tense waiting period as the phone rang, the hopeful sound of her father's voice, and the crushing disappointment of the same, dull message that haunted her very nightmares.

"Hey dad, just incase you forgot, you have a daughter too…" Marceline muttered to herself as she levitated slightly above her bed, staring at the plain ceiling. To take her mind off things, she reached under her bed and fiddled around a bit until she finally grasped hold off her prized possession, a family heirloom to be passed down from generation to generation. Her family Axe, which she had craftily tweaked to dual-function as a Bass Guitar. On a shelf next to her bed, there was her Journal, and a pen with red ink, which she also grabbed. These three things served as her emotional outlet to the stresses and pressure of her natural life. Within each page of that small, packet of paper held together by mortal material, held a story to tell, of tragedy, of success, of sadness, of things only certain individuals can comprehend.

"_Daddy, why did you-"_ As Marceline's spark of inspiration began to spring to life, something interrupted her: her sense of smell. She quickly dropped her Bass and her Journal on her bed and let her sense of smell guide her. She could sniff out a human being, albeit not a normal one. "_Probably just another mutant, no big deal."_ Marceline thought, it had definitely had blood, though something was rather… off about it, though Marceline didn't question it. It was time to prove to herself that the Vampire Queen had not gone soft.

Crona tiptoed through the shallow water, as to not awaken any possible monster or beast within the caves. What he saw just a little bit ahead baffled him. "A h-house? I don't understand… Who would think to live out here?" He said to himself. Uneasily, he continued to quietly wade through the water. Then, something stopped him dead in his tracks.

A shadow figure quickly shifted across the wall of the cave. Crona could've sworn it was something. His body began to shake involuntarily as the shadow only came closer. His heartbeat became quick, practically to the point where he could feel it bursting out of his chest. The shadow figure drew closer, and closer, and then… It stopped, the shadow began forming together to create a human-esque shape, a silhouette. He could hear footsteps coming closer and closer towards him. Nervously, Crona summoned Ragnarok's Demon Sword form. As soon as the fleshy lips on the Longsword formed, he immediately piped up.

"_Croooona!_ You stupid idiot! Because of you, I can't get out! You're lucky I can't punch you right now!" Ragnarok yelled, clearly angry.

"Wait, I don't understand… How are you 'stuck'? And how is this my fault?" Normally Crona wouldn't talk back towards Ragnarok, but his worries were somewhat cleansed knowing that his normal abuse would be limited to verbal abuse.

"I stuck in this dumb sword form! I can't get out of it, no matter how hard I try! And it's all your fault because…. Hey! Shouldn't you be worried about getting your skin torn off!" Crona quickly shook his head and directed his attention towards the 'person' in front of him. He took up a shaky battle stance, and tried his best to look intimidating.

Marceline blinked. At least two of her senses were playing tricks on her right now. First of all, where did that guy's sword come from? It was almost like some magic show, it formed in mid-air in a purple-ish liquid. Second of all, that sword of his _talked._ Marceline couldn't even describe that on her own. Marceline quickly gathered herself together, and a maniacal smirk formed on her face as she pointed her Ax at the stranger.

"Heh. Looks like today's you're unlucky day. Sucks to be you, am I right? Too bad you had a run in with the Vampire Queen." She rather smugly. Her satisfaction only grew as she saw the terrified moment of realization on the stranger's face. The Stranger himself also looked quite odd. He looked about a year or two younger than Marceline, wearing a black robe covering most of his body, with light-pink hair that nearly went down to his neck.

Quickly, Marceline raised her Ax and slammed it on the stranger fiercely. As she looked down to see what she expected to be a bloody corpse, the Ax had only made contact with the mud below. The stranger had just barely jumped away in the nick of time. Swiftly, she lifted up the Ax and flew over to the stranger, attempting to decapitate him with overwhelming, rapid horizontal slices, who only avoided them by mere inches. Eventually, Marceline began to back the stranger into a corner of the cave. Frustrated, she raised the Ax once more, and prepared to end the brawl with one fell swoop…

Marceline expected to feel a satisfied "_**SHING"**_ of the sound of sharp metal cutting flesh, but the blade seemed to make the sound of Metal hitting a rock. The Ax just seemed to… stop. It had very clearly hit his head, but he showed no signs of pain. Nonchalantly, the stranger removed the blade from the top of his head with his hand. What caught Marceline off guard was his hand, it was covered in blood… Black Blood. Granted, in her 1000+ year lifespan, she had seen some pretty weird stuff, but this, by far, may have been the strangest.

"Um…. I'm not very good with girls, I don't really know how to talk to them." The stranger said, not making eye contact. His cheeks were glowing red with embarrassment. With that, Marceline grew furious.

"C'mon already, you should be _dead!" _Marceline cried. Stepping up her game, she transformed into a demonic, giant bat form about two times her own size. Recklessly, she charged directly at him, and shoulder-bashed him. The stranger was easily overtaken by the sheer force behind the attack and was flung against the cave wall.

"_Alright Marcie, go in for the kill"_ She thought to herself. Marceline shifted back into her human form, and crept towards the fear-paralyzed stranger. For the last and final time, she raised her blood-red Ax above her head and prepared to get her first kill in ages.

It was just then, that something stopped her, dead in her tracks: her very conscience. The Ax stopped, as if she had hit an invisible barrier mid-cut. Her grip on the Ax was growing shaky. Was this really what she wanted? To please a father who hadn't spoken to her in over a month? No. She had better things in life to do then follow in the footsteps of some lame dark lord. Without a word, she turned away from the stranger and walked back to her house with her fists clenched.

"_I haven't gone soft… I just…" _Marceline thought to herself, searching her mind for a valid excuse.

Crona rubbed his eyes as his mouth hung wide open in awe. He put his hand to his chest as he felt his skyrocketing heart rate start to die down. He heard the sound of a door being shut behind him, and saw this as an opportunity to escape. Crona slowly climbed out of the crater in the wall, and with every ounce of remaining strength, he ran.

"Smooth move, Crona! Because you had to run into a Vampire Cave, you almost killed us!" Ragnarok said, steaming with rage.

"I don't know how to deal with monsters! They're terrifying…" Crona said, his shoes made a soft, scrunching noise as he ran through the puddles of the cave.

"Terrifying, huh?" Crona immediately came to a halt in his escape. He could faintly see the exit, but it was being blocked, by the vampire. This was it. It was over. Ragnarok quickly dispersed back into Crona's bloodstream. His mouth opened, but it made no noise, just hung open, like a gate to Hell. His whole body shook with fear as he awaited his final fate, all while the Vampire stood there with a malicious grin.

The Vampire lifted up his limp body by the collar of his robe. Her words were cold, and her breath sent chills down his spine. "Congratulations. You've just landed a spot as my Henchman. _For the rest of your life."_ The words pierced Crona harder than any hit he had suffered in the previous battle. His life was over.

**AN: Hey fellow readers, thanks for taking the time to read this huge first chapter. I'm going to try my best to flesh out Crona and Marceline's character traits beyond 'Crona's a scaredy cat' and 'Marceline has daddy issues'. Constructive Criticism is welcome!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This takes right after the first chapter.**

Marceline walked inside her house with a rather smug smile on her face. She proved she was still the Vampire Queen she used to be without sinking to her father's "Well, I might as well try it out…"

Marceline chuckled a bit, then giggled, before bursting out into a full-on evil laughter. It felt _good_, albeit at the same time cheesy and clichéd. Marceline opened the door, flopped onto her couch and took out her Bass. The pure red Bass had now had splatters of black on it, which she had to admit, looked even cooler than before. She cleared her throat before beginning to sing.

"Daddy, why did you- No, that's not it… Marceline said, she was certain the pitch of her voice was lower than that; she took a breath before attempting to sing again. "Daddy, why did you- Ugh! " Once again, she had hit the wrong note. She floated upstairs towards her room. She briefly scanned the room as she stood at the entrance of it. It was filled with junk, from random t-shirts she had no idea why she owned, bottles of ketchup, and scratched CD's. Minutes and minutes passed, until Marceline finally found her notebook, under a lump of clothing. She flipped open to a random page, nope, already used, then another, another, and another.

"_What?_" Marceline scowled. Every single page was covered up with lyrics, notes, and scrapped song ideas. Not a single blank page was available; there wasn't even enough space to write a small Haiku. She let out an annoyed groan. "_Time to go shopping for a new notebook. Great." _She thought. Notebooks were pretty hard-to-find, you had to know a guy who knew a guy, y'know? Thankfully, Marceline had connections, but it wasn't going to be easy, or cheap, for that matter. Begrudgingly, she levitated from the safe sanctuary of her room to the cold outside, but not before grabbing an umbrella.

As soon as she walked out, Marceline's heart nearly skipped a beat, before she quickly collected herself. "_He's still here?"_ Marceline thought. She would've thought he had skipped town on her while she was inside. There he lay, staring at the cave's ceiling rather blankly. He looked deep in thought, as if he was questioning his existence. Marceline paid him no mind and continued on her way. As she navigated her way out of the cave, she could see a faint light, she walked closer and closer to it until she finally breathed some fresh air. It was an almost a refreshing feeling, the sun was hidden, which naturally, was a good thing for her, but she could still feel part of its warm embrace. The rain was gone, but the clouds were still spread out over the sky like a dreary blanket.

_Snap, _went the twig, after it was unknowingly crushed by a shoe.

Marceline spun around with lightning reflexes to witness the closest thing to a human 'Deer-in-the-headlights' she had ever seen. It was her cowardly, pink-haired henchman, who stood frozen in place by fear. "You're pretty pathetic, you know that?" Marceline giggled a bit, and her henchman seemed somewhat relieved.

Crona felt embarrassment and relief wash over him as she laughed, so long as she was happy, his life would be spared, or at least he hoped. This was also the sole reason he tagged along with her, to ensure that he was doing his 'job' right, keeping her happy, and thus keeping his own life. The Vampire Queen turned away, and began to fly off rather quickly. "W-wait!" He couldn't fly, at least, not on his own.

"Ragnarok, Black Dragon." It was strange for Crona to hear what he said, because he didn't recall ever using this form, he just _knew_ that Ragnarok had access to it, somehow. He braced himself for a long, painful procedure as Ragnarok emerged from his back to form it, but the results were rather unexpected.

_Pop. _He could hear a slight cracking noise coming from his back, and he could feel a slight pinch, but nothing huge. He turned his head a bit to look at his back, and was quite surprised. "Ragnarok, you've gotten…. Smaller." He said with disbelief. The wings were quite miniscule, resembling the wings of an Angel rather than a Dragon.

"S-shut up! Anyways, quit slacking off and catch up with the girl! Or else she'll suck your blood out!" Ragnarok said, in a turn of events, his pride had been wounded by Crona.

"R-right! Sorry…" Crona remembered the consequence of failure and swiftly took to the skies. Ragnarok flapped his wings while Crona steered. With a lighter weight, this form of Black Dragon was noticeably faster than before. Whenever that was. The grey skies and fog clouded Crona's vision, but he could faintly make out the Vampire Queen in the distance. Instinctively, Ragnarok picked up the pace. Eventually, Crona was only a few yards away from the Vampire Queen, but decided to keep a safe distance away for his own sake.

For at least ten more minutes, they flew to their unknown destination, at least to Crona. Conversation between the two remained dead silent. After a while, the Vampire Queen began to descend towards the ground, and Crona followed suit. It was a desert area, with a lone, pitiful shop, with little to be seen for miles. A sign on the shop read 'Thing's 4 sell', the bad grammar of the sign annoyed him, but chose to keep his mouth shut.

Then, Crona became skeptical. What was she buying there anyways? A cursed spell book, which she could use to make him a lab rat? Or perhaps a vial of poison, which she could slip to him in his sleep, leaving him to die a slow, painful death? Or worse, she could be planning to put him in a slave trade which would strip him of all free will. Crona shut his eyes and tried to rid his head of such thoughts.

Marceline began scanning the aisles of the shop for a notebook. It was a bookstore some of her punk friends had recommended. Rumor has it most of these books were stolen from Turtle Princess's library. Some, no, _all_ of the books were vandalized in some way or another, though Marceline couldn't tell if some were actually vandalized or just old and dusty. She searched high and low for a notebook section until she finally found one near the back of the store. There wasn't a huge selection of notebooks: one was a plain black-and-white generic notebook, one was frilly and pink, and the last one was pure black with the name 'GUNTER' engraved onto it. Without a second thought, Marceline grabbed the third one. Although it didn't bring back the happiest of memories, the name itself did remind her of a sentimental, nostalgic time that lasted too short. She clutched the notebook and held it tight, as if she was holding a teddy bear. She passed by her henchman, who was giving her a puzzled look, but she couldn't care less. She urgently levitated to the checkout area of the store and slammed her money on the table. In truth, there was nothing special about that notebook. The meaning behind it gave it a soul.

As they left the store, Crona couldn't help but feel perplexed. A notebook? No black magic or witchcraft? Just… A notebook? Perhaps the Vampire Queen had a passion for writing? With each question that echoed through his mind, he only grew more confused. The Vampire Queen seemed to be in a hurry to return to her home, as she left the store at a jogging pace and flew to the clouds with a spring. Crona struggled to catch up with her as he clumsily unlocked the Black Dragon.

Once again, the two remained silent as large, dark clouds passed by sluggishly. The sky was an empty void of grey, which made sightseeing pointless. He blankly stared ahead, zoning out, thinking about irrelevant things and questions without answers.

"…You don't talk much, do you?" Crona's mind returned to reality in an instant. It was a simple question, yet he couldn't find the words to answer them. So instead, he remained silent, as always. One hour earlier she was threatening Crona and now she was making… small talk? It was mind-boggling.

"_Huh. Weird kid." _Marceline thought to herself. He seemed awfully passive for someone with some crazy power. She shrugged it off and kept flying. On second thought… Did she even ask him to come with her? No, or at least she didn't recall. "_He must be taking this henchman thing pretty seriously."_ Marceline thought. After a series of twists and turns, they arrived back at the same-old cave. She walked towards the door, but just before opening it, she looked back at her henchman. He was lying on the ground, with his eyes closed. She turned around and got ready to put her thoughts on paper.

**AN: Regarding Crona's abilities, this is after he is cleansed by Maka, so he isn't as powerful as before, he still can use his old attacks though. I'm also gonna try to build this up, put some filler in between.**


	3. Chapter 3

"**Beep. Beep. Beep."** Marceline moaned and buried her face in her pillow as her digital alarm clock terrorized her sleep. Cranky and tired, she slammed her fist onto it, silencing it. She levitated out of bed, her Bass and her new Journal rested on the floor. She must have fallen asleep as she was brainstorming new ideas. She recalled that she had successfully finished a song she named 'Daddy ate my fries'. Marceline couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride in her creation. Oh, if only her father could understand what she was feeling towards him.

Marceline drowsily floated to the kitchen and flung open the refrigerator door and snatched a bowl of leftover cherries. She sat down at a table, and started draining the red out of every cherry, one by one. It was then, she realized she had nothing in particular planned out today. "Let's see what my friends are up too…" She grabbed her cell phone from the couch and looked at her contacts. They read:

Bongo ("Too lazy.")

Bonnibel ("Ew.")

Dad ("Nope.")

Finn ("Too dorky.")

Guy ("Too moody.")

Jake ("Scaredy cat.")

Keilia ("Too punk.")

LSP ("Drama queen.")

Pep-But ("Probz busy with Bonnie.")

Marceline set her phone down and sighed. "_Bor-ing."_ She said as she stared at the ceiling from the couch. Then, a figurative light bulb shined a dim light over Marceline's head as an idea presented itself to her. She hovered off the couch towards the windows and peeked through the blinds. "Yep… Still asleep."

"_Hiss!"_ Crona's eyes shot open and gasped as he saw a face that would haunt his nightmares. The Vampire Queen had appeared before him, and apparently she found his reaction quite amusing, as she was doubled over in laughter while reclining on the air.

"Ahahahahaha! That reaction was priceless!" She said, wiping a tear from her eye. Crona felt very aggravated, but tried his best to hide it. "Anyways, you're coming with me, unless you want to become my lunch beverage." She said, licking her lips menacingly.

"U-understood." Crona said with a nod. Crona stood up straight and put his hands to his side, hoping that he looked within good shape to be put to use, reminding himself of the grim consequence of not meeting his master's wishes.

"Heh, looks like you get an A for effort. If you slack off, you might just be an A for Appetizer." She said, with a mischievous smirk. Crona felt tiny drops of sweat forming at his brow.

"Lucky for you, I don't feel like walking tonight, so I would recommend keeping your eyes shut for this." Said the Vampire Queen. Crona wasn't exactly sure what she implied by this, before Crona could even had time to open his mouth, a small green flame emerged from the tip of her finger, and with the flick of a finger, she flung it to the ground. Crona shut his eyes tight and braced himself for whatever devilish spell she had cast. Although his eyes were shut, he could still register the flash of a bright light.

Slowly, Crona's eyes fluttered open, and it took him a moment to realize he was no longer in the cave. He was standing in the plains in broad moonlight. "If I were you, I'd start running, fast." She advised. Just then, he heard a howl not too far off. Terrified, Crona sprinted straight ahead, not daring to look back. The sounds of harsh barking came closer, and he could only think of one possible solution.

"Ragnarok, Black Dragon!" In a matter of seconds, a pair of wings formed on Crona's back, and while still sprinting, he took off into the air. As he looked down, he didn't see any wolves, he did, however, see the Vampire Queen doing a spot-on wolf impression. As she noticed him, she chuckled.

"Alright, you got me. This was getting pretty boring anyways." She said, she swirled around her index finger in a circle, and a light blue flame emerged from it. She flicked it towards the ground and Crona shielded his eyes with his hands. A bright light flashed once more, and Crona looked around at this new setting.

"W-why are we here…?" Crona, for once, questioned his master's actions. It was a Graveyard. A drab, dreary, Graveyard. The tombstones had moss growing on them, and they didn't look well kept. The moon was obstructed by the tall trees within the forest where the Graveyard was located. Crona could hear incomprehensible whispers in the wind.

"You'll see, just wait a second." Once again, the Vampire Queen's words were cryptic and vague. She seemed to be enjoying herself, which naturally unnerved him. Crona closed his eyes and took slow breaths. That is, until something interrupted him. Something clasped onto his legs.

Crona slowly looked down to see to bony hands latched onto his legs. Then, he felt another skeletal figure creep up his back. Before he could scream, it put both hands around his mouth. Slowly, the two skeletons began dragging him below the dirt. As he was being pulled under, he could see the Vampire Queen in the same situation, but her eyes looked normal, almost bored, and she showed no signs of struggling. Crona closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.

"Gaah!" Crona hit the ground with a thud, and he slowly pulled himself back up. He quickly spun his head from side-to-side, before letting out a relieved sigh. He was in an underground room, filled to the brim with skeletons. He felt something tap him on the back.

"Take a seat, mate." Crona turned around and saw a skeleton with half his head missing. Crona fell backwards on the ground, scared out of his wits. "No, no, no, not on the floor! In a chair!" Crona took a gulp and nodded. He collected himself and stood back up.

"R-right. Sorry." Crona looked around, he had heard of these kinds of places before. It was almost like a restaurant, but they mostly served hot drinks like tea and coffee. There was a small, platform where up-and-coming performers could show off their talents. The atmosphere was calm, which was rather strange, considering the overall creepiness he had previously felt. To his knowledge, these places were called 'Cafés'.

Crona took a seat at an empty table, near the middle of the room. A light shone on the platform, while dim lights illuminated the rest of the room. To his surprise, the Vampire Queen stepped onto the platform with the same Ax she had used a day ago on him. He sat patiently, waiting for what could possibly come out of this performance.

"Ladies, Gents, other undead persons, listen up. This song is going out to all you of you out there who just feel caught up with this crazy thing called music." She said. This seemed to get a good reaction out of the crowd, cheers and whistles came from all parts of the room. The crowd became silent as she began to sing.

"Hey guys, it's been a bit…

Simply put, I decided not-to-split…

Every day, sometimes I just feel si-ck.

Is this reality, or have I just been tricked…?

But sometimes, I have to remember,

That my passion burns like an ember,

But sometimes, but sometimes, _I have to remember!_

That my passion burns like an ember! Oh yeah… Oh yeah.

Some just say I'm crazy,

I like to think I'm just lazy…

Sometimes, I forget….

But I just say no sweat…

'Cuz all I have to do is _remember."_

With that, the Vampire Queen set down the mic on the stand, and made the 'rock on' sigh with her hand. The crowd erupted into applause and cheer. Crona found himself reluctantly clapping. He didn't know what to think of her anymore. She was keeping him captive, yet she wasn't being explicitly cruel, and whoever these people were, they seemed to _like_ her. Crona's thoughts shifted left and right until something caught his ear.

"Yeah! Marceline's the best!" "Rock on, Marceline!" Marceline… Marceline… The name seemed so strange, like none he had heard before.

"_Marceline… I'll remember that name." _Crona thought to himself. Just then, the Vampire Queen walked offstage and towards Crona.

"Alright, that was pretty amusing. You know the drill." She said, smirking. She blew a cold breath onto her index finger and a small yellow flame sparked from it. She flicked it into the air and it drifted towards the ground. Crona closed his eyes and the bright light shone for the third time.

Crona opened his eyes and took a moment to absorb his surroundings. It looked about dawn, the sky was a hazy purple, and the sun and moon were both at low points in the sky. Crona looked down at the ground below him and almost fell over. Below him was a large drop, with sharp, intimidating rocks poised to impale him. Crona carefully backed away from the cliff, bumping into Marceline while doing so.

"Nervous, huh? Well sometimes, all you need is a little push!" Without warning, Crona was shoved off the cliff, sent plummeting to his death. He wanted desperately to scream but he couldn't. The Black Blood wouldn't work, the momentum of his body would stop it, and the Black Dragon wouldn't be fast enough to stop his fall.

"_This is it."_ Crona clasped his arms onto his chest and closed his eyes. He prepared himself for a quick painful death until-

Something stopped him. He didn't feel any pain, nor did he feel any blood spilling out. He took a moment to look down. There were only a few centimeters between him and a pointed stone. Then he directed his attention to what was directly in front of him.

"You didn't think I'd kill you yet, did you? Yeah right, you've still got a job to do, henchman." She said, smiling. It only took Crona seconds to realize him seconds to realize that she was holding him by the arm, preventing him from meeting a gory death. Something about the smile seemed so… genuine. Crona simply nodded, for he could not find the words to describe his emotions at the moment.

Marceline yawned. "Well, I'm bored now. Hurry back, or else, you know what." She said casually. She dropped Crona onto the ground next to the rocks. She flew upwards. Crona could only stare with his jaw agape.

**AN: Hey guys, not much to say this chapter, but the next chapter is when characters start to develop. Just a heads up, the next chapter is going to have action as well. Thanks for reading this chapter guys!**


	4. It came from the Nightosphere'

"Daddy, why did you eat my fries? I bought them, and they were mine. But you ate them, yeah, you ate my fries... And I cried, but you didn't see me cry…" Marceline continuously recited the song again and again, but it did no good. She didn't feel as if she had conquered her emotions. She still felt some pent-up aggression towards her father for what he did to her. Her friend Keila had recommended she 'Tell him your feelings and stuff, just not up front'. She wasn't sure what she had meant by this until now.

Marceline grabbed her journal from the table and flipped open to the page titled 'Fry Song', which had all the lyrics. She tore out the page, and got out the necessary required items. With a sharpie, she drew a happy face onto the wall, and then splashed Bug Milk onto it.

""Maloso vobiscum et cum spiritum!" She chanted, completing the ritual. A portal opened, she was about to throw the note in until she saw…. Him.

"Hey, Marceline, how's my little monster?" He asked on the other side of the portal, in a dorky manner. It was her father, the Lord of Evil, who wore a business suit, like always, those his job was anything but dignified. The way he was cheerfully oblivious to the pain he had caused her.

"Dad! I'm not a little girl anymore! Why are you even here?" She scowled, her anger rising.

"That's a good question, Marcy. Didn't you summon me here in the first place?" He countered. Marceline grit her teeth and opened her mouth, but she couldn't find the words to argue back with.

"Oh, I get it now. You wanted to treat your old man to a feast of souls, but you couldn't find the courage to ask me yourself. It's okay Marceline, I can do it myself." With that, the Lord of Evil stepped onto the other side of the portal and into Marceline's house.

"Dad! That's not what I meant at all, I just wanted to talk!" Marceline yelled, frustrated.

"We can talk later sweetie, once I'm done sucking out all these souls." Once again, her father had ignored her feelings and did as he pleased.

"Marceline, is this the family Ax? What have you done to it? Is this a guitar? I don't think you're fit to own it if you treat it like _this_." He snatched the Ax-Bass from the couch and left out the front door.

"_Dad!"_ Crona shot awake as he heard as he heard a furious cry. Within an instant, a demonic figure was standing in front of him, opening his jaws wide, and his whole body went numb as his soul, as well as Ragnarok's was being sucked out of him forcefully.

"Stop!" In a flash, his attempted soul absorption was interrupted with a kick to the jaw from Marceline. The Demon stumbled backwards, and the thing Crona immediately noticed was Marceline's Ax-Bass with the Demon, it fled the caves and Marceline looked as if she was steaming with anger. Crona ran to catch up with her.

"Was that your…" Crona couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. He hadn't exactly had the greatest childhood with his 'parent'.

"Yeah. That's my dad. He's kind of a huge jerk." Marceline said, who had calmed down a bit. "He's got my Ax-Bass, so I'm gonna settle things with him. You can wait here until I get back." She said, for once she was being serious and showed no signs of joking whatsoever. Marceline spun around and soared out of the cave without another word. As she left, a paper flew out of her pocket and into Crona's direction, he grabbed it immediately.

"W-wait! You forgot thi-" It was too late. She was already far gone from the depths of the cave.

"_Aaaaaah! _Lord of Evil, sir! Don't suck out my soooooouuul-" Cried a Cloud Person as his very spirit was being devoured. There he lie, another empty husk, a shell of what once was a person.

"Suckin' out souls, suckin' out souls, huntin' for souls…" Whistled Marceline's father cheerfully. He took joy in seeing the petrified faces on his victims as they pitifully begged for mercy.

"_Hiyaaaa!" _Just as he was about to venture to another kingdom, he heard a battle cry coming from above. The last thing he saw before being forcefully kicked downwards to the ground below was a pair of red boots. His impact after crash landing into the plains created a crater at least the size of a car. He dusted himself off and saw his daughter standing at the edge of the crater.

"Give. Me. My. _Bass."_ Marceline demanded. Her father smirked and just shook his head.

"Sorry Marcy, not gonna happen. Unless you wanna try and take it from me." He said, taking out the Ax and slamming the sharp edge into the ground.

"You're on, Lord of Evil." Marceline said, putting her fists up. She bared her fangs, pulling out all the stops to look intimidating. Although, she desired her Bass greatly, she wasn't sure if she could beat her father in a one-on-one duel, especially considering she had a disadvantage. "_Yep… I'm screwed." _Marceline thought. Perhaps she should've chosen her battles wisely.

Marceline took the initiative and rushed her father, getting up close and faking him out with a punch, and attempting to kick him in the head, which he dodged with ease. She floated up a few feet, and threw a multitude of punches aimed at his head. After dodging seven swift punches with quick tilts of the head, the Lord of Evil caught her fist and slammed it into the ground, with such sheer force that her body created a hole even deeper than the one her father made when he crash landed.

"Why you…!" Marceline burst out of the hole, seething with rage. She turned into a demonic, muscled monster and let loose a gargantuan punch, which her father only managed to block with the Ax, even then, it still made him skid back quite a distance.

"That actually could've hurt, but hey you tried." He said, in a rather mocking tone of voice, which only enraged his daughter even more. The Lord of Evil took the offensive as he jumped into the air and landed behind her, chopping the back of her neck and forcing her back into her normal form.

"Slow down a bit, you might hurt yourself, Marcy." Marceline helplessly struggled as the Lord of Evil seized her in a shoulder-hold and delivered a destructive piledriver to his daughter into the hard ground, leaving her completely paralyzed with pain.

"_Can't… Move!" _Marceline thought, gritting her teeth. The feeling of complete helplessness only angered her more.

"Shoulda just stayed in your place, Marceline. Looks like your old man just might have to teach you a lesson!" The Lord of Evil raised his Ax over his head and prepared to deal the finishing blow to Marceline. She shut her eyes tight and prepared for a grim, bloody end.

**CLANG!** Marceline opened her eyes. The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed through the air. Someone stood before her, but she couldn't make out exactly who it was.

"_Screech Beta!"_ A purple aura burst from the blade and pushed Marceline's father back a considerable distance. The person before her swung his sword towards the Lord of Evil as if to signify 'Leave her be'.

"It's okay, Lady Marceline, I'll defend you." It was then that Marceline instantly recognized the voice. It was her Henchman, who had come all this way for her.

"But why…" Marceline asked, as she lay on the ground, her voice full of confusion.

Crona simply turned back and responded, "Because you were nice to me." with a smile. Then, he turned his attention to the Lord of Evil, let Ragnarok return to his bloodstream, and got in a proper defensive stance.

"You've got quite a dark soul… Perhaps offer it to me?" The Lord of Evil clenched the Ax and sprinted towards Crona at supernatural speeds. As he swung the Ax, Ragnarok hardened the Black Blood as Crona blocked the blade with both hands. Traces of blood spilled from his hands, which he used to his advantage.

"Bloody Needle!" Two solid spikes of Black Blood shot from Crona's palms, piercing Marceline's father through his chest. Crona quickly summoned Ragnarok's sword form and lunged for the Lord of Evil. He narrowly avoided the attempted stab and punched him across the face, which knocked him down to the ground.

Marceline could now manage to move from her paralyzed state, but it still pained her quite a bit. "_This is really weird… When I fought him a couple days ago, he could barely keep up with me, but now he's going head-to-head with my dad, and he's doing pretty good!" _Marceline questioned how bizarre the increase in power was, but she was too caught up in the action.

"Bloody Slicer!" Crona slit his wrist and a speedy Black Blood projectile was fired at Marceline's father, who narrowly avoided it with a well-timed duck. He countered by getting up close and throwing a heavy punch, Crona blocked it with Ragnarok before it made impact.

"Pi-_Yaaaaaaaaaagh!" _Ragnarok vibrated wildly as he screamed, causing the Lord of Evil's knuckles to bleed. He yanked it back, writhing as he sucked out his own bleeding red blood.

"You insolent little…" Marceline's father growled, his eyes bloodshot with anger. "Whoops, sorry, lost my temper a bit there, anyways, I'm going to go finish my evening meal. See you two kids later!" He flew upwards towards Lumpy Space, leaving the two on their own.

"Hey, Henchman… What _was_ that?" She staggered back up, mostly recovered from her wounds, and looked Crona in the eye. He seemed to have returned to has passive demeanor.

"Oh, um…" Crona's eyes shifted left and right, not meeting her eyes. "I-it was nothing…" He said, quietly.

"Y'know what, never mind. I'm going alone, I didn't need your help anyways." Marceline, despite her injured condition, flew upwards towards a pointless struggle.

"H-hold on!" He said, still holding onto the paper with the lyrics. He stuffed it back into his robe.

"Quit standing around! I was totally ready to take that guy's soul!" Ragnarok complained, he morphed into his Black Dragon form and started flying towards Lumpy Space at breakneck speeds. Crona felt wind flying into his face, to the point where he had to squint just to see clearly.

As soon as Crona reached Lumpy Space, he nearly had a heart attack. Marceline's father had become absolutely gigantic, at least ten times the size he previously was. Marceline stood on a purple cloud, staring in awe.

"Marceline, I told you, I'm not giving your Bass back, it's mine now, understand?" He said, his echoing voice boomed throughout Lumpy Space. Marceline grit her teeth and put her fists up once more. The Lord of Evil pulled his fist back, preparing to deliver a monstrous punch to the weakened Marceline.

"N-no!" Crona flew in, wielding Ragnarok, making a desperate attempt to interrupt his attack. He closed his eyes and hoped for the best while he took a blind shot.

"_G-gaaaaah!"_ Crona turned around, and saw he had at least done some damage. He saw Marceline's father clenching his bloody arm, which lacked a hand on it. Crona took a breath, he had at least prevented harm from coming to Lady Marceline. The Lord of Evil coughed out blood, as well as some souls. Crona felt his blood turn to ice as Marceline's father slowly turned his head to him. Crona felt frozen as the Lord of Evil reached for him with a giant hand. He grabbed Crona with his one remaining hand, and brought him up to his gigantic head.

"You don't need to worry about my hand, really, it's okay. I'll return the favor, from me to you." Marceline's father squeezed Crona as tight as he could, Crona screamed as his very insides were being crushed by the soul-sucking tyrant. The Lord of Evil cackled at his agony. To finish the job, he threw Crona onto the same cloud as Marceline, cracking the Black Blood.

"Look at you two, it's kind of sad. You just picked a fight with the wrong demon, that's it. You two might just be having a permanent stay at the Nightosphere." Marceline stumbled back up once again, but her injuries caught up to her at the worst possible time, she silently fell to the ground next to Crona.

"_Think Crona, think….!" _Crona desperately searched his mind for a solution as the Lord of Evil opened his large, disgusting mouth and prepared to drain their bodies of their souls. Crona's eyes widened as an idea finally came to him.

Crona reached into his robe, and took out the piece of paper. He crumpled it up and threw it with all his strength towards Marceline's father. It bounced off his forehead and he grabbed it. He unfolded it and mumbled it to himself.

"Marceline…. Do you really feel this way?" He said, in a concerned tone.

"No, I mean, yes but…" Marceline's cheeks turned bright red and her voice became soft.

"Marceline, I'm sorry about the fries, they tasted undercooked, but I ate them anyways…" Marceline's father said, sounding rather ashamed of himself. Crona had no clue that Marceline's father was so… Fatherly.

"Don't worry about the fries, Dad… It's really okay." Marceline said calmly. Crona could hear her voice cracking a bit as she spoke.

"I'm sorry Marceline… I-I love you." He said, a single tear falling from his face. He plucked the Ax and set it at Marceline's side.

"I love you too, Dad." She said, getting a little misty-eyed. There was an embarrassed smile on her face.

"Marceline, it really means so much to hear you say that… We should just spend-"

"_Screech Alpha!" _In the blink of an eye, a thin purple beam pierced through Marceline's father's chest, and a sonic explosion quickly followed, momentarily injuring him, as well as releasing a large bundle of souls. Quickly, Crona hopped under one of the purple clouds beneath Marceline's father, and drew a happy face. He pulled out a carton of bug milk from his robe, and emptied it out upon the face. 

"Maloso vobiscum et cum spiritum!" He yelled. Within seconds, a blue portal violently dragged Marceline's father back into the hellish Nightosphere. Marceline quickly flew over to Crona's location and grabbed him by the collar.

"Hey! Do you realize how embarrassing that was?" Marceline's grip loosened as she remembered his actions earlier. She sighed, and let her body collapse onto the soft, lumpy cloud. Crona, also exhausted, followed suit, his body making a soft 'thump'.

"Sorry… I um… panicked."

Marceline sluggishly walked over to the door to her house, her strength drained from combat. Before she walked in, however, she turned back. Her henchman lay on the cave floor, looking in far worse condition than she was. Marceline couldn't ignore it, not after what he did for her.

"H-hey, henchman!" He stood up, looking rather tired. Marceline felt her confidence sink to a new low. "You can sleep on the couch… I mean, if you want. Not that I care." She said, hoping she didn't sound vulnerable. He seemed honestly shocked that she would suggest something like that. He stood paralyzed with surprise for a few seconds as Marceline turned around and floated towards her bed, not looking back. She heard footsteps coming up to the house. "_Of course."_ She thought.

Her Henchman was silent upon entering the house, Marceline didn't dare to look back, too embarrassed to admit she was grateful.

"T-thank you!" Marceline stopped dead in her tracks. Her feelings were conflicting with each other. On one hand, she wanted to just be cool about it and say 'Yeah, no problem.', but on the another hand, she wanted to prove that she hadn't gone soft.

"_Bleh!" _Marceline turned into a horrifying demonic form and let out a terrifying cry. Marceline heard the oh-so satisfying gasp of a petrified victim. She turned around, returned to her room, and shut the door.

"_That's never gonna get old."_ She said to herself.

**AN: Another chapter allllllll done. Thanks for reading guys! Just a quick note, Crona knew the ritual for opening up the portal by doing some investigating within the house. Constructive Criticism and suggestions are welcome!**


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